Heretofore, a washing machine that automatically determined various washing conditions using various kinds of sensors.
For example, there exists a washing machine which is equipped with a cleaning sensor for detecting the degree of deterioration of washing water, and determines the cleaning time according to the information from this cleaning sensor. There also exists a washing machine which is equipped with a cloth amount sensor which detects the laundry volume, determines the water level, and the water flow at the time of cleaning as well as rinse according to the information from this sensor. Furthermore, there exists a washing machine which is equipped with, in addition to the above-mentioned cleaning sensor and cloth amount sensor, a manual-setting input part for manually setting various washing conditions such as laundry volume, water flow, and washing time. In the washing machines equipped with these various kinds of sensors as well as the manual-setting input part, although the various washing conditions such as washing time or the water level were determined automatically, the determination of washing conditions in accordance with the information from various sensors and the manual-setting input part were done independently.
The prior art washing machines determine washing time based one the information from the cleaning sensor. Then the relation between the degree of deterioration of washing water and the washing time is expressed by a simple mathematical formula such that the setting is done in a manner that when the degree of deterioration of washing water is great the cleaning time is made long. Then based on this mathematical formula the washing time is determined automatically. As a result, the washing time could not be determined based on a relation between the washing time and the degree of deterioration of washing water gained from the experience of a user, bringing about a great difference from the washing time which was intended by the user. This gave a problem that the most suitable washing time based on the user's experience could not be set.
Neither washing water flow nor rinse water flow can be determined uniquely by the cloth amount. These flows should be determined when considering the degree of soiling of the laundry (amount and type of soiling of the laundry). In washing machines of prior art, however, since the water flow is determined only by the information from the cloth amount sensor and the degree of soiling of the laundry is not taken into account for the determination of the water flow, there has been a problem that careful washing and rinse taking every factor into account could not be done.
Although the most suitable water level should be determined by mass, type, volume and other factors of the laundry, in the washing machines of prior art, the water level was determined only by the information from the cloth amount sensor, there has been a problem that the water level was not sufficiently determined.
Furthermore, in the washing machines of prior art, since the determination of the washing condition and the determination of the washing condition through the manual-setting input part are independent of each other, the washing condition cannot be determined by a combination of the information from the manual-setting input part, which is the information on the sort of laundry that is difficult to detect using sensors and the detected values from the various sensors. Hence there has been a problem that it was very difficult to determine the various washing conditions corresponding to laundry of a mixture of multiple sorts.
There has also been a problem that, by adding the information through the manual-setting input part given manually by a user to the determination of the washing condition obtained from the detected values output by the various sensors, "the most suitable washing" according to the various sensors and "washing according to the user's taste" could not be realized at the same time.